Why This Matters

On March 16, 1988, a yellow cloud of mustard and Sarin gas swirled throughout the city of Halabja in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. As the deadly gas seeped its way through the doors and windows of homes, over 5,000 Kurds were killed and more than 10,000 were injured in the most brutal chemical weapons attack since World War II.

The motive of this attack, as with any chemical weapons attack, is clear: terror and genocide. This was just one of a coordinated series of mass deportations, the destruction of 4,000 villages, and mass executions known as the “Anfal Offensive,” which was conducted by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in northern Iraq.

Today, the death toll continues to rise.

Even thirty years later, the deadly combination of mustard gas, nerve gas (Sarin, Tabun, Vx) and mutagens used to exterminate the Iraqi Kurds has caused a steady increase of various forms of cancer, birth deformities, still-born babies, and miscarriages on those who managed to survive the initial attack.